It's Scorpio Season 🦂♏
Are you ready for it?
You must like me for me.
Dear Readers,
A salesperson once told me that Scorpios were more obsessed with their astrological sign and buying themed items than literally any other sign, and I believe it. Being a Scorpio is deeply important to my personality. I’m not even sure I believe in astrology! Yet you’ve likely seen my bio on insert-social-media-platform: Gen X Scorpio. These are the two things I want you to know first. Before my books, before my location, before I’ve even started to tell you all about my cats.
(I did once ask a therapist about this, leading off with: “I know astrology is fake.” She shrugged and said it wasn’t necessarily fake. I took this as an OK to keep hardcore pushing my Scorpio agenda for the rest of time.)
I once retweeted or Instastoried or shared somehow a post that was like, we all like astrology because it’s fun enjoying what’s wrong with us instead of hating it, and I think this is kind of accurate at least for me. I am actually almost always working toward being a better person but also, look, I’m working with what I’ve got.
Anyway, I hope you have a festive Scorpio season, whatever that means for you. I’m gonna eat a lot of fall foods and listen to Reputation and wear a lot of layers when the weather allows.
Below, I have some great advice from the always fabulous and very prolific Gretchen McNeil. Remember that if you have questions about writing, editing, publishing, querying agents, clothes, Diet Coke, cats, etc., you can reply to this email and I may share your question in an upcoming newsletter. It’s fun! I PROMISE!
xoxoAmy
Consumption
Moisturizing
Winter is coming and I like telling people that even though I know Aesop costs more than most lotions, but their Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm absorbs, like, immediately, smells amazing, and I never end up reapplying until after I’ve washed my hands, etc. I have tried cheaper lotions and none make me so happy.
Listening
In ANOTHER newsletter, someone linked to the Spotify playlist you’re a single mom in the 90s cleaning her house and lemme tell you that it is exactly what I need, and maybe what you need, too.
Drinking
It’s not a GOOD story but the truth is that once a grape soda led to an embarrassing incident with one of my best friends* (yeah OK FINE if you want to read it it’s at the bottom of this newsletter but I do warn you it’s DUMB) but even so I love grape soda, and lately I have been buying the Olipop Classic Grape whenever I’m in Target. (Which is often.)
Snacking
Super into McDonald’s’ (quick, a copy editor, tell me if I punctuated that correctly, I will only accept feedback from a copy editor) Pumpkin and Creme Pie. It is much of what I want in an autumn snack.
Get Your Ask On
Today we’ve got advice from Gretchen McNeil, author of Three Drops of Blood and so many others!!.
I'm worried all the cool ideas and tropes have already been done! Should I quit my manuscript?
GM: If every writer was only allowed to create utterly new concepts and tropes, no one would have written since Shakespeare died.
While that's not entirely true, it's a point we should all take to heart: originality of concept isn't the only aspect of your writing that can be original. Give ten authors the exact set of plot points and you'll get ten completely different novels, I assure you. Be true to your narrative voice - the words you choose, the patterns of your language, the way characters speak through you - and even if you're rewriting Hamlet beat for beat, it will be YOUR Hamlet. And that's something no one else can produce.
If you have any questions about writing, publishing, revising, genres, querying, being on submission, etc., reply to this email and ask! Your question may be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
At Her Service is coming in February!
(And it’s on NetGalley now!)
A sweetly sexy, thoroughly modern new novel about single life, social media, career goals, and making the bold move to grab your own happiness—and write your own love story.
Max Van Doren has a wish list, and a great career and a girlfriend are at the top. But despite being pretty good at her job as an assistant to one of Hollywood’s fastest rising talent agents, she has no idea how to move up the ladder. And when it comes to her love life, she’s stuck in perpetual lust for an adorably perfect bartender named Sadie. Her goals are clear—and Max has everything but the self-confidence to go for them. Even her mother seems to assume she’ll be crawling home to her childhood bedroom at some point . . .
When Max’s roommate, Chelsey—an irritatingly gorgeous and self-assured influencer in plus-size and queer spaces—offers to sponsor her for a new self-actualization app, Max gives in. If she can’t run her own life, maybe an algorithm guiding her choices will help? Suddenly Max is scoring big everywhere, and her dreams are achingly close to coming true. But when one of Chelsey’s posts reveals Sadie’s part in the app’s campaign, Max is poised for heartbreak on all fronts. Tired of the sponcon life with its fake friends and endless selfies, Max realizes that to have true influence, she’ll have to find the courage to make her own, totally authentic way in the world.
“At Her Service is a charming, uplifting, and deeply relatable romance perfect for any reader who has ever dreamed of stepping into their own best life. I want to befriend Amy Spalding’s characters and live in her quirky queer romantic world forever.” —Susie Dumond, author of Queerly Beloved
*OK fine, like twenty years ago one night my friend Christie and I were IMing on AOL and she told me some piece of good news while I was drinking a grape soda and my brain short-circuited and I replied, in all caps, “GRAPE!!!!!!” when obviously I meant “GREAT!!!!” but since she couldn’t see me, she clearly just thought I had lost my mind. This still semi-embarrasses me, which is one of the few downsides of having decades-long friendships. The GRAPE!!!!!! never fully goes away.